Pay up! - Charles Jr appeals to Seabed Authority members to pay dues

Pearnel Charles Jr. (second left), state minister in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, in discussion with (from left) Alfonso Ascencio-Herrera, legal counsel and deputy to the Secretary General; Michael Lodge, secretary general and Professor Mariusz Orion Jedrysek, president of International Seabed Authority at the International Seabed Authority 24th Session of the General Assembly at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

Minister of state in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Pearnel Charles Jr, has appealed to member states within the International Seabed Authority (ISA) to pay their dues.

The ISA was established to control and regulate all mineral-related activities in the international seabed, which is an area underlying most of the earth's oceans.

Charles was speaking yesterday at the ISA's 24th Session of the General Assembly held at the Jamaica Conference Centre in downtown Kingston.

"As we enter another budget cycle, we note the secretary general's report that less than half of the membership of the authority has fully paid over their assessed contribution. I take this opportunity to encourage member states in arrears to fulfil their obligations to the Authority as soon as possible," said Charles.

There are 168 ISA member states. These countries are well represented at the General Assembly.

"We share the concern about the state of the voluntary Trust Fund to support the participation of members of the legal and technical commission and finance committee from developing states," said Charles.

" We thank the governments of Argentina, China, the United Kingdom and, most recently, the Kingdom of Norway, for their generous donations to the fund. I make a special appeal to the other member states which are able to support this fund to do so," he added.

He continued: "We commend member states that have made contributions to the endowment fund for maritime scientific research, having recognised that the capacity-building mandate of the Authority is a major priority.